Mask
by crazy novelist-san
Summary: SasuNaru OOCness Sasuke comes to a realization about Naruto and confronts him on it, Naruto turns the tables on a well laid plan and now both must cope without somehing they've depended on for years. Rated 4 safety. Suggestions welcome! Review please!
1. Hidden Behind the Mask

**Masks  
By: Shozetsku  
Warnings/Disclaimer/Authoress Notes:  
**Shonenai and possibly yaoi in later chapters, SasuNaru, cursing, OOC-ness, NO flames please! You have been warned! Haters can click the back button!  
I do not own. This is a fanfiction so I'm going to take creative liberties with the characters. And again, just to make sure you can't say I didn't say it: I DON'T OWN! This disclaimer holds for this entire fic. I don't want to say it over and over agiain.  
... This is a plot bunny that decided to do a jump kick to the back of my head after being shot out of a cannon. (and I have the scar to prove it.) Unfortunately this particular plot bunny used too much gun powder and the ending got burned off. So suggestions along the way are good! Gah, I need to update my other shit before I put up more shit really, but I have too many plot bunnies, it's like I'm running a bunny farm and they just keep multiplying.

**Chapter 1**: Hidden Behind the Mask

Sasuke yawned uncharacteristically as he leaned against the bridge railing for the last member of their team and their chronically late jounin sensei. Sakura was enjoying the morning breeze and being Sasuke's mere presence. Sasuke had stayed up later then usual last night doing, what Uchiha's do best, brooding and deep thinking. As he reflected on his thoughts of last night for what might have been the twentieth time in the past twelve hours he chided himself for being so uncharacteristically stupid. But all that late night thought would be put to use when a certain blonde decided to show up.

Another thing Uchiha's were good at, noticing things others normally didn't notice because they don't think to look. Sasuke, personally chalked it up to his sharingan that he seemed to notice these things, but out of all the things he had seen he never once thought to put them all together. If he had he would have come to this rather stunning revelation ages ago, hence his self-rebuking. _Oh well, it's no point crying over old scars_. (The ninja equivalent to no use crying over spilt milk.) He thought idly to himself.

Naruto came walking up the path whistling tunelessly, Sasuke pushed himself off the railing. He and the blonde had things to talk about. And he already knew how the conversation was going to go too, he had practically scripted this conversation last night.

"Oi! If you start getting here any later you'll start arriving after Kakashi sensei, Dobe!" he called before Naruto was quite at the bridge. Sakura, on cue, started to giggle at Sasuke's not funny at all joke; of course the girl was just trying to curry favor with the object of her affections. Sasuke planned to use that to his advantage. Naruto, as he expected ran the rest of the way to the bridge and, completely disregarding the unspoken rule of personal space, got in Sasuke's face and started screaming.

"Shut up teme! And stop calling me dobe! One day I'll make you eat those words!" He shouted. Sasuke pretended to consider Naruto's words, "About that, I've come to a revelation of sorts. I'm completely embarrassed that I didn't figure this out ages ago but, late is better then never I suppose."

Naruto looked at Sasuke as though he had grown a second head, "Nani? What _are_ you talkin' about Sasuke-teme?"

Sasuke felt like he was experiencing a very long bout of déjà vu, it was scary how well this was working. "I've come to the conclusion that you could have never even graduated the academy, let alone get so far in the chunin exams if you were really as stupid as you act. If you were really that stupid you wouldn't be able to walk and talk at the same time, never mind all those times you could have died on missions."

"What do you mean Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked perplexedly, Sasuke finally understood how Kankuro felt, being a puppet master was really fun. And what interesting puppets too.

"I mean," Sasuke said, stressing the second word, "That the Naruto we know is a façade, not the real Naruto. He's been wearing a mask, so to speak, and he's been wearing it for years. But it's slipped once or twice. I've been talking to Iruka-sensei, you've slipped once or twice haven't you, Naruto? And immediately afterwards you would do something extremely stupid and prankster-ish to make up for it and discredit your slip ups wouldn't you? Isn't that why you painted the Hokage monument that one time? Iruka-sensei said you had been acting strange the day before. And there are more instances, but with each passing year they get more and more seldom, but when something huge happens that throws off guard you slip up again. When the sandaime died? And what about when Hinata was nearly killed by her own cousin? There was no goofy smile on your face then, everyone tells me, 'It was so unlike him.' You've been hiding behind that mask since before the academy haven't you?"

Naruto said nothing, his face was resolutely straight, Sasuke faltered a bit. Naruto was supposed to flare up and try to defend his mask till the very end. But the shorter boy didn't say a word, and he didn't look like he was going to for a while now. He was, in fact waiting for where Sasuke was going to go with this, depending on that, he would react. So Sasuke continued.

"On that note I have decided to make you a deal. If you can go seven days and seven nights without your mask I'll never say another unwarranted harsh word against you ever again. But if you trip and fall on your face or fall into a trap it doesn't count, everyone should be told off when they do something stupid, after all."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "You've put some thought into this. Fine I'll accept your challenge on one condition."

Sasuke smirked, his plan had worked perfectly! "That condition is?"

Naruto smirked, "If I'm going to drop my mask, you drop yours. For seven days and seven nights. No masks, no cheating, you can't just put up your mask when others aren't around and you can't only half ass it either. This is now a test of pride, if you can't hack the real world without your precious mask you lose."

Sasuke hadn't bet on this, but now he couldn't back down. "My mask?" he sneered at Naruto, "What makes you think I have a--"

"Don't bother lying to me. I'm not as stupid as I act, remember?" Naruto said coldly. "So? How 'bout it? My mask for your mask, seven days seven nights. First one to retreat back behind their mask loses. Winner claims the prize of their choice after the week is done. Why the prize of their choice? Because when I win I don't want all that work to be for you not to call me dobe anymore, I've never really cared one way or the other since I realized it was a part of your mask."

Sasuke cursed in his head, but wouldn't show it. "Tomorrow then? Give you one day to cling to your mask before saying goodbye to it for a week?"

Naruto scoffed, "What do I need a grace period for? Isn't the delay more for you? But the day has already started, so tomorrow it is then."

Sasuke snarled and was about to retort when Kakashi turned up in his usual puff of smoke. "Sorry guys! I was lost in a good book."

Automatically, Sakura pointed an accusatory finger at him and shouted "LIAR!"

Naruto cut in. "Actually Sakura, he could actually be telling the truth this time." Sakura, out of sheer shock, deflated immediately.

Sasuke stared at the blonde. _What the hell? He said we start tomorrow but he didn't pretend to fall for Kakashi-sensei's lame trick and he called Sakura out for falling for it! Is he starting early to try and show me up_? Sasuke mentally shook himself. _Think! Sasuke think! You've never actually interacted with Naruto without his mask on; you have to be prepared for everything_.

Naruto shot a small smirk at Sasuke, then quickly changed moods, "But that doesn't change the fact that you're late! Pay up!" he shouted pointing at the masked jounin mop-head.

Kakashi's visible eye widened, "That was today? Not fair. And I have a legitimate reason too." Kakashi dug into his pocket and took out his wallet, then threw a wad of cash at the boy. Naruto counted the bills.

"You're short, cheapskate-sensei! You lost the bet, now pay up!" Naruto shouted holding his hand out expectantly. Kakashi scowled, but forked over the rest of the allotted cash. The days mission was a boring D-rank. Team seven was about to go their separate ways and head for home when Naruto stopped Sasuke.

"Meet me at the bridge at dawn. I've been getting tired of my act lately, and I want to see your face when I take off my so called mask." Naruto said flatly, and without further ado. He walked away, tripped fell on his face, turned the corner and was gone.

"Dawn huh?" Sasuke murmered to himself. "Kuso! This is going to be one long, interesting week."

**End chapter 1**

... What the hell is this? Not even I know. It's a mix of, rock music, watching the end of the "SAVE Rukia!" story arc from Bleach, eating junk food and Mongolian stir fry (which is delicious!), and reading angsty sasunaru fics. O.O scary...

... I was thinking of chapters going day by day but we'll see how that goes. Any other pairing preferences? I take suggetions!

Clicking the review button speeds the updating process!


	2. Day 1 Teens Unmasked

**Masks  
By: Shozetsku  
Warnings/Authoress Notes:  
**Shonenai and possibly yaoi in later chapters, cursing, OOC-ness, NO flames please! You have been warned! Haters can click the back button! I DO NOT want to hear it!  
... This is a plot bunny that decided to do a jump kick to the back of my head after being shot out of a cannon. (and I have the scar to prove it.) Unfortunately this particular plot bunny used too much gun powder and the ending got burned off. So suggestions along the way are good! Gah, I need to update my other shit before I put up more shit really, but I have too many plot bunnies, it's like I'm running a bunny farm and they just keep multiplying.

**Chapter 2**: Teens Unmasked

Sasuke took a deep breath, actually he'd been taking a lot of deep breaths, so many that he'd lost count around the twentieth. He was going to drop his mask, after so many years of wearing it, today; the thought both scared him and sent a kind of rush throughout his body. He wondered how people would react to his different behavior when he dropped his mask. The reactions should be interesting enough to keep things from getting too boring.

He arrived at the bridge about five minutes or so before dawn. Not one for sleep to begin with he had gotten even less last night out of built up anticipation. He was still early so he expected there to be no one there yet. But Naruto was sitting idly on the railing swinging his legs and waving Sasuke down with a broad smile.

Sasuke was temporarily dumbstruck, but he only paused in walking up to the bridge. As he did so, he didn't let Naruto out of his sight, and he studied his every move closely. Sasuke expected Naruto to be somehow different, he didn't know exactly what he expected but it certainly wasn't this. Sasuke settled himself with leaning against the bridge railing directly across from Naruto. Because the rail was so high he actually had to look up to look into Naruto's face. It was a very unusual feeling. Naruto's eyes were shut so that Sasuke couldn't see what was going on in those blue orbs, Naruto was almost unreadable. So Sasuke decided to try a more direct approach in getting some information out of the boy.

"Dobe, I guess that this means you're going to chicken out then. If you're not going to let go of your façade then I get to claim my prize." Sasuke said haughtily.

Naruto stopped swinging his legs, he leaned forward towards Sasuke, bringing himself to just above Sasuke's eye level. He grinned, he opened his blue eye's wide and his grin became a very uncharacteristic smirk, "It's not dawn yet, Sasuke-teme." Naruto said darkly. The phrase was simple, but the way he said it threw Sasuke off for a moment. He blinked but said nothing, no other words were spoken, and so they waited for dawn.

The sky began to lighten, the far-off horizon turned deep red, then bright orange like Naruto's jumpsuit, and finally Naruto pushed himself off of the railing. He looked Sasuke dead in the eyes as he made a simple handsign. The henge he had placed around himself vanished. Sasuke's eyes widened, Naruto's hair was actually longer then everyone thought. It was shaggy and unruly, and tied loosely into a ponytail, but his ponytail was not nearly so high on his head as Shikamaru's or Iruka's and the hair that wasn't long enough to be tied back framed his face, his bangs fell heavily into his hardened eyes.

His face itself was thinner, his skin was slightly darker. Naruto was no longer a good head shorter then Sasuke; he was just below his eyelevel. Gone was his orange jumpsuit and in it's place was a dark forest green hoodie with black cargo pants. His hitai-ate hung around his neck, and just below the hollow of his neck hung a blue crystal necklace with a silver charm on either side of it.

Naruto smirked, his fang-like canines more pronounce, "Quit staring at me asshole. I know I'm gorgeous but I don't like it when you undress me with your eyes like that." He scoffed at the brunette.

Sasuke pushed himself as far away back as possible from the blonde, which wasn't that far because he had his back to the bridge railing. "Who would want to undress you with their eyes you pervert! You definitely need to stop taking your training from Jaraiya-san, you're starting to think like him!"

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Without your mask on you get our feathers ruffled a lot easier. What, did you never really get over **_THAT_** and so you sealed yourself off from our own memories and emotions until you could use them to get you stronger?" Sasuke flushed, and a look of pure shock passed over his face; it didn't need to be said that Naruto was talking about the slaughter of his family. "H-how did you know that?"

Naruto wagged a finger mockingly at him. "I'm not as stupid as I look, remember? And it doesn't take a genius to figure you out. You had a majorly traumatic event occur when you were young and emotionally impressionable. You weren't young enough that the memories would fade with time if you just let them alone either. But even so, you didn't leave them alone; you brooded over them day after day until you almost made yourself crazy. You never really had a mask per say. You had a lid. A lid on your memories and emotions."

Naruto gently threw himself onto the ground and leaned against the bridge. "How is it that you and I are so damn similar yet exact opposites?"

Sasuke had no answer to this. And so they just waited there in silence for a couple of minutes. Naruto sighed, "I'm bored, you're supposed to be more entertaining then this Sasuke."

Sasuke flushed again, "Don't delude yourself! I'm not going to be your entertainment." Sasuke turned away from the sitting blonde before him. This new Naruto really got on his nerves with his cocky attitude. And he didn't even act like an idiot so Sasuke could give himself the advantage.

Naruto smirked again, "Starting to wish you left me behind me mask aren't you?" Naruto began digging through his pockets, "Where are they?" he continued digging, "Aha!"

Out of morbid curiosity Sasuke looked at what Naruto had been searching for. "N-Naruto! Y-Y-You SMOKE?"

Naruto laughed holding out the pack of cigarettes, "You sounded so much like Hinata just now; your stuttering is funny. And no, these are for Shikamaru so Ino doesn't catch him buying them."

"So why were you looking for them?" Sasuke asked, relieved that Naruto wasn't a smoker.

"Because I bought them a week ago but my façade dictates that I forget for about two to three days and at most a week to give them to him; once or twice I can give then to him before that but I try not to let that happen too often." Sasuke looked taken aback; he had no idea that Naruto's act was so carefully orchestrated.

"You know?" Naruto said, getting onto a slightly different subject, "I was really tired of having to go through all this trouble everyday. Mind you not every time I trip is planned, but it was getting to be a hassle. When you came to me with this half baked idea I thought it was a sign to do away with my act. But with just your reaction you've proved what I already knew."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What did I prove?" Naruto sighed, "That people like the idea of me being an idiot and a small prankster then what I really am."

"And what is that?" Sasuke asked, at this Naruto actually laughed at him. "Come on now Sasuke! It's no fun unless you figure it out on your own!"

Sasuke growled and balled up his fist in suppressed anger, he was actually wishing for the old Naruto. But at the same time he wanted to get to know the boy he thought he knew. They sat in relative silence as the sun rose higher in the sky, and the world around them grew steadily warmer. Sasuke always liked late spring, everything wasn't just blooming anymore. And it wasn't too hot yet.

"Today's going to be really nice, you can see it in the sky." Sasuke said with a small smile on his face.

"Aha! I knew no one could ever be as much of a bastard as you pretended to be!" Naruto said pointing at the brunette.

Sasuke flared right up, "Hey! I was just saying it's a nice day! Do you HAVE to be so damn condescending about EVERYTHING?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Sure it's a nice day; that is until it rains later on today. Man, I'm leaving early; I hate getting caught in the rain."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at the sitting blonde, "Rain? What are you talking about? There's not even a single cloud in the sky!"

Naruto scoffed and raised his head to look up at the pale blue sky, "Ask Inuzuka to confirm it. That is if he can smell it yet; it's going to rain."

Sasuke shook his head, "You called Kiba by his last name."

"Yeah. I did. Excellent observation professor." Naruto said, his voice dripping with distain.

Sasuke finally lost his temper, "Look you asshole. All you've done since you dropped your damn henge is to try and pick a fight with me. What's your deal?"

Naruto shrugged, "I have a lot of things I've been wanting to say for years. I'm just saying them. You're a pussy; you could never handle it when I did better then you. You always _hiked up your skirt_ and _bitched_ about it. You almost left Konoha too. And I had to bring you back or Haruno would have cried and cried and cried about it. Even if there weren't any tears she would still be crying on the inside and I would have to live with it everyday. That's why I'm glad you didn't leave with that snake bastard, that and you were the only person I kinda liked at the time. And it was fun with you as my rival; I looked forward to our fights."

Sasuke didn't know if he should hit the boy or smile at him over that little speech just now. He decided on neither, Sakura was coming.

"SASUKE-KUUUN!" she called, "OHAIYO!" Sasuke and Naruto both flinched. Naruto began rummaging around his pockets again.

He pulled out a small bottle of migraine pills, popped two and handed that bottle to Sasuke, "Here, we're both going to need these today."

Sasuke looked at the bottle, "Isn't this really rude?" Sasuke asked but shook out two pills and swallowed them quickly anyways.

Naruto smiled as he caught the bottle that Sasuke tossed back to him, "Only if you get caught at it."

Sasuke nodded, "Good point."

Sakura had finally reached earshot, so blatant remarks of wanting to be somewhere else were out for the time being. It was at this point and time that Sakura began her rant, starting with Naruto's appearance. Naruto of course didn't pay any attention to her, choosing to blatantly ignore her. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place…or a bridge railing and Sakura…which was equally, if not more, discomforting.

Then she called him out for ignoring her at which Naruto kept on ignoring her. Sasuke blinked at the scenario. Sakura was having all sorts of kittens and Naruto really couldn't care. Suddenly, Naruto glanced at the Uchiha and he caught the secret message Naruto's eyes told him: Save me.

He inhaled, trying to stop what was about to happen, then he remembered. He was supposed to be himself, without his mask; without the lid he had put on his life.

Both Naruto and Sakura stopped in their tracks when the foreign sound came from Sasuke's mouth: Laughter. Sasuke gripped his sides and turned away from them, trying to hold it in and then Naruto pointed at him and said, "Loser." He turned away and smiled slightly before dropping to the floor. He sighed and crossed his legs, staring at his toes peeping out of his shoes.

Naruto then looked up, "Ah, he's early today…still late, but earlier than usual."

A loud poof, that scared Sakura for what may have been the umpteenth time in her whole life, resounded and Kakashi appeared.

"Yo." He said, holding up a hand. Sakura was the first to glare, "you're late."

Naruto shrugged and got up, slapping his pants to get rid of any dust, "Who cares,, let's train already. I don't plan to stick around today anyway."

Kakashi raised a brow.

"Because of the rain?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shrugged, "Maybe."

"What do you have, rabies? A little water isn't gonna kill you."

"I would think you wouldn't want to be caught in the rain either, seeing as your justu is fire based."

Sasuke blinked and then blushed a little, "Er…"

"The correct response," Naruto began, "Would be that you also have lightning based justu."

Sasuke crossed his arms and childishly said, "That's what I meant to say."

"No you didn't."

"Are you trying to pick a fight again?"

"You're just obsessed with being the one to have the last say in every argument." Naruto said calmly. At this point, both Kakashi and Sakura had moved to the side, observing the verbal battle between the two boys.

"That's not true, dobe."

"And now you have resorted to name calling, really mature Sasuke." Sasuke fumed, "I only call you Dobe because you're a complete and utter moron."

"And here I thought it was a childish way to show affection towards me." Sasuke prickled much like a scared cat and said, "Yeah, right in your dreams!" Naruto's lips curved into a smirk and he replied, "Maybe in yours."

Sasuke sputtered, he shook his head slowly from side to side in disbelief, "I am not going to even dignify that with a response." Naruto smiled, "What's the matter Sasuke?" he asked with a laugh, "Kitsune got your tongue?"

Sakura blinked. Inner Sakura chose this time to speak, "When did Naruto gain insult prowess?" Sakura shrugged, "Does that even exist?" Inner Sakura replied, "It does now, and Naruto's the king of it."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "All right, lets get on with this training, children." The last word earned him three glares, each more lethal than the next. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and thought, 'Jeesh, Iruka sure raised some monsters.'

Kakashi had been reading through some scrolls in the jounin library. He found one or two techniques that he thought would be useful to teach to his team. Naruto, usually the worst at getting the hang of a new jutsu at first caught on fairly quickly. Ignoring Kakashi's praise on his improvement Naruto appeared to be bored.

"Isn't there even a D-rank mission to do?" he asked exasperatedly. Kakashi shook his head.

"It's a slow week. And the Hokage thought you could use a one day break." Naruto raised a brow, "So Kurenai and Asuma's teams are also doing light training and getting the day off too?"

Kakashi nodded, "Gai's team too, you've been taking on a lot of missions lately and you deserve to enjoy your childhood every once in a while."

Naruto stared severely at Kakashi, "You all got her drunk to get her to agree to this didn't you?"

Kakashi scratched absently at his masked cheek, "There might have been alcohol involved..." he said noncommittally.

Naruto shrugged and walked off. Kakashi just looked at him go. It was strange enough to see Naruto out of his trademark orange outfit. But he was sarcastic, sharper then usual and very blunt with whatever he said. It made no sense to Kakashi, so he told Sasuke and Sakura to keep an eye on him. Sasuke had planed to do that anyways, but the two of them left to follow the blonde.

Naruto sniffed the air as he walked and periodically altered his direction. Even though Sasuke and Sakura weren't bothering to follow him stealthily and were just following him from a few yards away Naruto didn't slow his pace to allow them to catch up with him.

And so they followed him all the way to where Kurenai's team was. Sasuke remembered what Naruto had said about Kiba earlier that morning, 'Ask Inuzuka to confirm it. That is if he can smell it yet; it's going to rain.' And here was a perfect opportunity to ask. Naruto walked up to Kiba, who seemed to be taking a short break in the grass. Naruto bent over and said something to him that Sasuke couldn't hear. Kiba picked himself up out of the grass and walked up to Sasuke. "Well, Naruto says you have a question for me." Kiba said, clearly irritated.

"Y-yeah." Sasuke said, stuttering slightly in his surprise. "Uh, Naruto and I were talking earlier this morning and he told me that it's going to rain later even though it looks nice now. He said you would be able to prove him right or wrong."

Kiba looked at him with one eyebrow raised, then he sniffed the air much like Naruto had done. "Ya know, there is the faint smell of a storm coming. Couldn't tell you how big 'till a little later though. But yeah, it's going to rain."

Sasuke looked at the boy with wide eyes; Naruto was either guessing, he had asked Kiba to lie for him, or he could actually smell a storm coming before Kiba could smell it. The thought was vaguely unnerving.

Sakura looked confused, "When exactly did Naruto say all this again?" Sasuke shook his head, "This was before you showed up. A little after dawn." Kiba gave a low whistle, "Whoo, Naruto's gotten pretty good at guessing the weather." For some reason this didn't sound right; as weird as it was Sasuke honestly thought Naruto wasn't guessing.

Speaking of the blonde he was walking towards them with an arm wrapped bracingly around Hinata. Hinata herself looked like she had been crying, but a small almost sad smile graced her lips.

"I'm leaving. Are you sure going to be OK Hinata?" Naruto asked her, a look of actual concern on her face. Hinata nodded and gently pushed Naruto's arm off her shoulders. "Y-Yes... Thank you."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I don't see what you're thanking me for. You cried."

Hinata laughed, "Still, thank you." Naruto patted her head and walked past everyone heading back into Konoha. Sasuke did a prolonged double take, Naruto had been kind to Hinata, even older brother-ish. Was there more then cynicism to this new Naruto?

"Hey!" Sasuke called after Naruto. Naruto didn't stop walking. "Hey! Naruto! Wait up already!"

Naruto stopped. Sasuke caught up with him, Sakura close behind him. "What was that all about?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, he stared him straight in the face as though searching for something. And after a moment he seemed to be looking past Sasuke, not even seeing him anymore.

Mini flashback!!

Naruto wanted to set something straight. Easily finding Kurenai's team he walked right up to Kiba, who had been taking a short breather in the grass and knelt down beside him, "Hey, Sasuke has a question for ya." Kiba opened a bleary eye. "Why doesn't he come over here and ask me himself?" Naruto shrugged. "He's Sasuke."

Kiba heaved himself up but Akamaru was less inclined to move, all the better for Naruto really. He needed those two preoccupied. He didn't have to worry so much about Shino because he knew better then to listen in on the conversations of others outside missions. The one he had to talk to was Hinata.

With Kiba busy and his mask down this was the perfect time. Naruto quickly walked over to hinata, "Hinata. We should talk."

Hinata blushed and nodded, "O-ok, Naruto-k-kun."

Naruto saw Shino walk a little farther away to ensure them privacy. "You like me don't you?"

Hinata blushed harder and her mouth opened and closed like a fish. "Hinata, I'm sorry but even though your one of my good friends you and I both know that you're meant for someone else, right?"

Tears slipped down her cheeks, she wiped them away sadly, "I-I never would have t-told you would I? If you hadn't c-come up and said something it-it would have been left unsaid f-forever." Hinata looked hard at Naruto. "You look different. S-somehow you look more r-real today; when did you grow your h-hair out?"

Naruto touched the loose ponytail, and gave a low whistle, "Whooo, months ago."

Hinata gave a pathetic laugh, "I feel better. Even though I got rejected, I feel better."

"And you're growing already. I didn't hear a stutter that time." Naruto said with a genuine smile on his face.

She smiled back at him, her eyes red and tears still trickling down her cheeks. She wiped at her eyes again and the little rivers didn't reappear. Naruto wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulder and they walked back to Kiba, Sasuke, and Sakura.

End Mini flashback!!

Naruto blinked, and seemed to come back to himself. "I needed to say something to Hinata."

"You called her by her first name." Sasuke said, as though announcing the final clue in a murder mystery that definitively identifies the killer. Sakura's confusion was so pronounce by now you could almost see it swirling around her.

"Could someone PUH-leeze clue me in here?" she shouted at the two of them. She was, again, ignored.

"Yes. Yes I did call her by her first name." Naruto said, clearly dodging Sasuke's silent accusation.

"You called Kiba by his last name." Sasuke pointed out. Naruto shrugged. "Calling Inuzuka by his last name was still a valid was of addressing him last time I checked." He said innocently.

"You called Sakura by her last name too." Sasuke continued, refusing to be deterred. "I'm well within my rights to do so, Haruno had told me repeatedly not to call her name like we were familiar. So I don't."

"And what do you really call Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked. Naruto raised his eyebrows, "Recently I started calling him Kakashi-sensei. You see, if I don't like you, I won't call your name. Hinata was always kind to me because she was head over heels in puppy love. I've almost always called Iruka-sensei by his first name. I hate Yamanaka so much I like Shikamaru and Chouji by comparison. Hyuuga-kun still has some head deflating to do before I start liking him instead of just tolerating him. I'd call Tenten by her last name only I don't know it. Lee is way to determined to prove his worth that I can't, not like him. Shino is a pretty honorable guy that doesn't mince words on petty talk, and I appreciate that. Everyone else in Konoha I either hate or have no particular feelings towards either way."

Sakura flushed, "So why do you call me by my last name?"

Naruto turned to her, his faced so full of emotion it was unreadable. "When I had a crush on you, you shot me down harshly for the other guy on our team. You wouldn't even treat me as an equal for the longest time. You've got a lot of sensitivity to grow before I would call your first name. Same for Yamanaka, just because I wasn't Sasuke she treated me like dirt. I have no time for people like that. I'll associate with people who care first."

Sakura flinched as though Naruto had struck her in the face. Naruto sighed again, realizing that he had been harsh in his haste to let out all the things he wanted to say, "You hurt me a lot at a young age. It leaves deep scars, that kind of thing, you know? It's not that I hate you or I dislike you or anything like that. But I don't like you either, that's all I mean by it when I call you Haruno."

Saukra felt a tear fall down her cheek, "Where's the sweet Naruto ho would greet me noisily every morning? I miss him."

Naruto's face hardened, "He never really existed, but he'll be back in a week."

Naruto started walking away from them again. "I'm going home. This is exhausting." Naruto paused and looked over his shoulder, "I look forward to seeing more of the more expressive side of Sasuke." He waved with a sly grin on his face as he headed home.

Sasuke just stared at the retreating back of Naruto, so out of place without his trademark orange jacket; in that forest green hoodie, long hair tied back, and as he stared he realized something. Naruto still called him by his first name.

The thought made his stomach do a happy little flip-flop.

Well out of eyesight and earshot Naruto stopped in his tracks and tried to remember the day's date. While this mundane piece of information he often ignored, something nagged at him about it. When he remembered his face split into a wide grin, "Two more days. Then things will get really interesting, won't they? I wonder what you'll do when you realize it Sasuke..."

* * *

End Maskless Day 1 Chapter 2!

What is going to happen in two more days? Well, I'm not going to tell you! You'll find out in three chapters! And yes, I already know what I want to happen it's not just some lame plug to get reviews.

I am soo sorry to all those rockin' people who started reading this fic the first couple of days I posted it up! I took soo much longer then I ever wanted to! I have the usual excuses, school, writers block, and college application essays but you don't want to hear those. I'll try my hardest to make sure that this doesn't happen again! I'll _**TRY**_ people!

You my viewers and most especially my reviewers, go to Kawaiinekokit. deviantart. com/ (remove the spaces) for a sketch my friend did of Naruto without his henge. It should be in her gallery if there isn't a direct link on her profile. She's also doing a doujinshi of my fanfic Source Of All Evil: Pink Ribbon. Check it out and leave her comments and faves and views.

The reason she's doing the doujin and not me is because I suck at drawing... TT-TT

The review button craves your attention! You will have good luck if you click the review button! (not yet proven, but if you review anyone's story, author or authoress will cry tears of f&cking joy) But I digress! The button demands that you click it anyways!


	3. Day 2 Maskless

**Masks  
By: Shozetsku  
Warnings/Authoress Notes:  
**Shonenai and possibly yaoi in later chapters, cursing, OOC-ness, NO flames please! You have been warned! Haters can click the back button! I DO NOT want to hear it!  
... This is a plot bunny that decided to do a jump kick to the back of my head after being shot out of a cannon. (and I have the scar to prove it.) Unfortunately this particular plot bunny used too much gun powder and the ending got burned off. So suggestions along the way are good! Gah, I need to update my other shit before I put up more shit really, but I have too many plot bunnies, it's like I'm running a bunny farm and they just keep multiplying.

-IMPORTANT! I do not believe in character death! This is post time skip and I know that Asuma is supposed to be dead but I don't care! He's alive in my fic and in my heart!  
Also! It has been discovered that I cannot write fight scenes. Therefore the entire fight scene in this chapter is thanks to **Lady Macfluff**, making this chapter a collab technically.

**Chapter 3**: Day 2 - Maskless

Naruto awoke the next morning in a very good mood. Dressing himself in a blue t-shirt and black pants and pulling the green hoodie over his head he smiled into the mirror. Even though he still had a bed head he couldn't help but smile, today was nice. After yesterday's afternoon downpour Naruto didn't feel nearly so grouchy anymore. Brushing his hair free of tangles he pulled it back into the usual ponytail, fixing his kunai pouches to his leg and his back pocket he pulled the necklace over his head and tied his hitai-ate around his neck. After brushing his teeth, eating breakfast and slipping on his shoes he was out the door.

Naruto paid no heed to the stares that followed him. He was far too used to them and had desensitized himself to it long ago. But today the stares held less malice and more confused curiosity. If they stared like this just because of a wardrobe change he wondered what they'd do the day after next. Naruto smirked again. He could not wait.

Arriving at the bridge before Sakura and after Sasuke he leaned against the bridge railing a few feet from Sasuke was. He sighed happily; it really was a nice day, "Morning Sasuke."

Sasuke had not been expecting such a pleasant greeting and the shock that would usually have gone unseen flickered clearly across his face, "Morning." He paused, "Get enough sleep? You seem to be in a better mood then yesterday."

Naruto nodded. "I don't like the rain and I had a lot to say, I won't apologize for it."

"Who asked you to apologize? While you were a pill for most of the day it was interesting to get to know you." Sasuke said shrugging. More truthfully he would have liked an apology but he was in the same boat. He too could be wholly honest with everyone for the next six days and he had things he wanted to say too.

Naruto laughed, "Interesting in a good way or a bad?" Sasuke laughed too, "Well, put it this way; I didn't know whether to listen to you, laugh at you, or tie you up, gag you, blindfold you, and drop kick you off the Hokage monument."

Naruto laughed again, "Was I that bad?"

"You were a prick." Sasuke said bluntly, but with a smile on his face. "Hey, this is going to sound really stupid and all but I gotta know. Is wanting to be the Hokage just part of your act or do you really want to do it?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke and blinked twice. "No, it's not just an act. I really want to become Hokage. And for the same reasons too, I want to be acknowledged and respected not hated and shunned. And if I have the top job no one can ignore me. ... That was a good question Sasuke, this is more fun then I thought."

Sasuke didn't know how to react to this last statement. It sounded a lot like Naruto was just stringing him along or observing him like a rat in a maze and making a note of it's progress. Sasuke raised a brow and regarded the boy next to him who had started to hum lightly.

Sakura walked along the path that would lead her to the bridge where she was supposed to wait for Kakashi with the day's mission. Hopefully Naruto wasn't there yet.

Sakura bit her lip at the thought of the blonde. Ever since yesterday Sakura didn't know how to deal with him. Should she be nice, or not change; did he expect her to do something in particular? Or would he never call her Sakura again? Even though she only had eyes for Sasuke she still didn't like the thought that Naruto didn't like her even as a friend or teammate that he wouldn't call her name. Somehow she knew it would be lonely to be called Haruno.

The bridge came into sight. Sakura caught sight of that dark green hoodie that Naruto had worn yesterday. Resolving herself to act natural, she took a deep breath and raised her hand and called out, "Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Ohaiyo!"

Sasuke visibly flinched and tapped Naruto on the shoulder and asked for those migraine pills that Naruto had given him yesterday; Naruto, bottle half out of his pocket was well inclined to share. Sasuke used Naruto as a shield as he quickly swallowed the pills; but with Sakura getting ever closer Naruto had to hide it by developing a very convenient, and not to mention convincing, fit of coughing.

"Morning Haruno." Naruto said pleasantly with a smile on his face. Sakura flinched but tried to smile back, "Y-You seem to be in a better mood then yesterday."

"You're going to have to get used to it. I am not going to call you by your first name for the next six days Haruno." Naruto said with a kind but firm look on his face.

Sakura blushed and turned away from Naruto. "I know."

Naruto pushed himself off the bridge railing. "You don't know how to deal with me anymore, do you? You don't know how to act. You probably have even thought I hate you." Sasuke could see Sakura turning redder, but she didn't answer. "Look, I don't hate you, and I don't even dislike you. But I don't like you either. I'm just indifferent. It's like how you feel about a store employee, you don't dislike them, but you don't have any reason to like them either."

"So I'm a stranger to you?" Sakura asked agitatedly, turning to him red flush still in her face.

"Of course not." Naruto said, waving away the suggestion. "I've known you for years. I'm not saying I consider you a stranger, I'm just giving you an idea of my feelings for you; neutral."

"So how am I supposed to act?" She asked him. Naruto shrugged. "I don't care. But if you would stop harping on things I think people in general would like you better."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Sakura said looking away from Naruto again. Sasuke huffed agitatedly, "Good. Because I don't like feeling like a wall ornament listening in on a clearly private conversation that I had no need to be present for."

Sakura was about to comment when Naruto turned and muttered, "He has the weirdest timing." Less then a second later the traditional 'poof!' sounded their sensei's arrival. Despite Naruto's comment that implied his immediate arrival Sakura clutched a stitch in her chest and said angrily, "Kakashi-sensei, if you know your going to be late why don't you plan to arrive early instead? Maybe then you can get here ON TIME?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and chuckled in a way that could have meant that he was either embarrassed to be late or happy he'd pissed Sakura off. Naruto's money was on the latter. "You think that I arrive here late because I plan it? I passed by this poor old man whose cart had broken and all his merchandise was spilled out all over the place--" Naruto leaned over to Sasuke and whispered behind his hand, "Bet you 2,000 yen I can catch him in his own lie."

Sasuke smirked and whispered back, "You're on."

"Kakashi-sensei, what was this old man with a broken cart selling?" Naruto asked in what sounded like a genuinely curious voice. Kakashi paused, "He was .. selling fruit. Yup, delicious juicy fruit."

Naruto decided not to point out the similarities with what Kakashi had just said and how Jiraiya had described his ideal woman that he wanted Naruto to find when they had first met. Instead he kept up his innocent (ha!) questions, "What kind of fruit?"

"...He was selling melons! Out of curiosity, why do you ask?" Kakashi said after a short pause.

Naruto could no longer ignore how similar this was to when he had first encountered that ero-sennin. He snickered into his hand. "Oh, no particular reason. But what did he look like?"

"He was bald, of medium height, kinda pudgy, and was very hairy." Kakashi said quickly.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. "You win, here's your 2,000 yen." He said digging into his pockets for the money.

"Ahem. Today's mission is to find a small group of lost children. Three to be exact. They went out to look for a lost dog, which belonged to one of the missing three, and they've been gone all yesterday afternoon and all night. We have a general idea of the direction they went but this'll still take a long time so Asuma's team will be pitching in."

Naruto's spirits were dented. Unlike with Sakura, Naruto wasn't indifferent to Ino. He just hated her. She was much more annoying and insensitive to everyone around her. But he had been meaning to give Shikamaru his cigarettes anyways, so it wasn't a complete disappointment.

"Wouldn't Gai's team or Kurenai's team be a better choice for this kind of thing? I mean Kiba's got a great sense of smell and Hinata and Neji have the Byakugan. Shino has those bugs that could follow the scent. And Lee probably has enough stamina and speed to do this by himself." Sasuke pointed out.

Kakashi turned to Sasuke, "While that may be true, there was a 'B' rank mission that turned up yesterday afternoon and Gai was bullied by Neji into taking it. And Hokage-sama already assigned and sent out Kurenai's team on another mission before she got to the paperwork for our mission."

Naruto coughed, "Hangover!" into his hand loudly. Sasuke looked at him and laughed.

"Anyways now it's our problem. And we have to cover a good bit of ground so the six of you are going to have to use the radios."

"I call pairing up with Shikamaru. I have something to give to him anyways." Naruto said raising a hand half heartedly. Sasuke glares at him, "I was going to say that! Fine, I'll pair up with Kakashi-sensei then." Naruto raised his hand again. "I second the motion."

Sakura looked visibly hurt that Sasuke didn't want to pair up with her. "B-But Sasuke-kun, why can't we pair up?" she asked hopefully. Sasuke flinched drastically, "Because I'm scared of your obsession with me." He blurted.

Sakura looked taken aback. "I'll pair off with Ino." she said, for lack of anything else to say.

Asuma's team showed up not even five minutes later. Chouji looked very happy and Ino just looked annoyed, Asuma explained to Kakashi that Chouji made them late because he wasn't finished eating. This explained everything. Naruto greeted Shikamaru and Chouji warmly, using both their first names, like he did yesterday. But there is no greeting for Ino, which is just as well, because she didn't even notice this and was trying to hug Sasuke while he was trying to keep away from her. The two looked like their in some sort of weird dance.

Naruto passed the cigarette box and a dime store lighter to Shikamaru, who pocketed them quickly with a cautious glance at Ino. Asuma gave a mighty yawn. Naruto could smell baby products lingering on his clothes.

"I was up all night with the baby." he said with another great yawn. "Chouji, do you mind partnering up with me on this mission, I wouldn't slow you down as much I don't think."

Chouji shook his head and grinned, "I don't mind at all sensei."

Naruto grinned and threw an arm around Shikamaru's neck. "I'm with Shikamaru."

Ino turned immediately to Sasuke, who was checking the ground to make sure there was at least five feet of distance between the two of them. "I call being with Sasuke-kun!" she said loudly.

Sasuke scuttled closer to Kakashi. "I'm already paired off with Kakashi-sensei." he said, not bothering to keep his relieved tone out of his voice.

"You're with me, Ino." Sakura said, trying to sound casual. Ino looked disappointed but shrugged, "Well, at least you don't get paired with him either." Naruto wanted to gag, she was so shallow.

The mission wasn't hard, it just took hours, or as Shikamaru called it 'troublesome'. Naruto's voice was hoarse by the end of the mission but all three kids, and even the dog were found. Shikamaru's mother remedied Naruto's, Sakura's, and Chouji's sore throats with drink of some family home remedy. It tasted fruity and Naruto asked for the recipe on a lark. He was surprised when Yoshino actually wrote down the recipe for him. Naruto pocketed the recipe with a passing thought of hanging out with Shikamaru more often.

It was mid afternoon and there was very little desire between the three of them to go home as of yet. Sakura's mother was cleaning the entire house and if she went home she would be shanghaied into helping her. Sasuke and Naruto had no desire to go to their empty homes with nothing to do. So they wandered the streets, picked up some lunch at a restaurant other then Ichiraku's, Sasuke out rightly refused to the point of pouting in public to go to Ichiraku's. They wandered the streets some more until Naruto was struck with an idea.

"Hey, Sasuke, Haruno! Let's fight!" Naruto said brightly, "There's a training ground up the road and around the corner to the left, we'll have a huge field to ourselves."

Sasuke gratefully latched onto this relief from boredom, Sakura found the idea appealing too. They arrived at the field and Naruto turned around and looked at the other two, "Two against one or every nin for themselves?"

"Every nin for themselves." Sasuke answered immediately. Sakura adjusted her gloves and rolled her head to get a kink out of her neck. Naruto pulled off the sweatshirt revealing his blue undershirt, it read: "I'm in my own little world, but that's OK, they know me there."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked from one to the other. Each waiting for one of the others to make the first move. Finally Sakura ran at Sasuke and aimed a punch for his left cheek. Sasuke activated his sharingan for his own safety, easily dodging the blow. She continually tried to punch him, missing consecutively.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto's amused expression. He was just standing there! Her attention shifted and she aimed a punch for Naruto when she had gotten into reach. She had expected to at least graze him. What she didn't expect was her fist colliding with Sasuke's face.

Naruto, at the last moment, yanked on Sasuke's collar, not only effectively trying to choke the teen, but also putting him in the line of fire. Sakura gasped, not ever expecting to hit Sasuke. Sasuke glared at both Naruto and Sakura, and the fight truly began.

Sasuke ducked down and swept hit leg out, attempting to trip both chuunin, but only succeeded in felling the pink-haired kunoichi. Naruto jumped at the last second and kicked out. Sakura pulled up her arms, blocking the kick and falling at the same time. Naruto landed and jumped back, letting the two others fight it out.

Sasuke kicked out as Sakura tried to get up, hitting her stomach and sending her skidding along the floor a good five feet. He ran straight at her and she was having a difficult time keeping up. All she could do was block with her arms. Naruto rolled his eyes. It was obvious who was going to win their little match so he stepped in, catching Sasuke off guard.

Sakura fell backwards on the floor, with no intention of getting back up. She sighed and thought to herself, 'I really need to train'. She flopped down into the grass and asked the sky, "Where in the hell do you find Lee around this time of day?"

Sasuke dodged yet another blow, his sharingan spinning wildly, trying desperately to calculate Naruto's next move. He stepped back at Naruto sailed forward. Sasuke took the opportunity to grab Naruto's shoulders and knee him in the stomach.

Naruto disappeared, replaced by a log. Sasuke whirled around, 'Kawarimi?' He scanned the field once and cursed. Naruto was no where to be seen. Suddenly Sasuke saw a flash of black, blue, and yellow before chasing after the blur.

His fist and Naruto's collided, causing a painful throbbing in his entire arm for at least a minute. Naruto kicked up high and Sasuke ducked. He tried to kick Naruto in the stomach, like he did with Sakura, but Naruto conjured up a bushin to block the kick and the bushin flipped Sasuke by the leg.

Sasuke hands hit the floor and he flipped back onto his feet before launching an attack on Naruto again. The blonde either blocked or dodged every hit Sasuke tried until Naruto grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pulled the raven towards him. Sasuke's eyes widened, his face way too close to Naruto's for comfort and the next thing he knew, stars were in his vision and he was on the floor.

Okay, now Sasuke was pissed. He pulled out his shuriken and threw a couple of them, which Naruto actually caught in midair before throwing them back. Sasuke dodged easily, kunai in hand. The shuriken were just so Sasuke could stall for time to get the kunai out.

He rushed forward, confident with his upper hand, but when he swung his kunai towards Naruto, there was a clash of metal against metal. Sasuke's eyes widened, 'When did he…' Sasuke hadn't even seen the blonde even reach for a kunai.

Naruto smirked and said, "Is this all you have, Sasuke?" the words struck a chord within Sasuke and he pushed Naruto, getting past the deadlock they were in. Naruto leapt back, only to have Sasuke sail straight into him.

The wind was knocked out of him as Sasuke's shoulder dug into his chest and stomach, sending Naruto flying backwards. Naruto looked over at Sasuke, who fell to the floor, lying on his back. Naruto smirked, knowing the Uchiha was not going to get up any time soon.

There was no real winner, but even Sakura admitted that she had lost. Naruto consoled her a bit telling her that a single punch from her super human abilities was deadly, but she lacked the speed to ensure a hit every time. He encouraged her to train with Lee, who was the perfect person to go to for speed training.

The sky began to turn slowly from blue to orange as the sun began to climb slowly down the sky towards the horizon. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura made plans to eat dinner together, after which Sakura would go home and have a bath. Sasuke and Naruto made plans after dinner to go to the onsen for a relaxing bath of their own.

Naruto grinned, "Nothing says male bonding like naked socializing."

They talked, reminisced, and even joked until Naruto complained that they were looking like raisins. Sasuke jumped up, not realizing that they had spent so much time just talking. He had never lost track of time like that.

"Later Sasuke." Naruto said as they went their separate ways home that evening. Sasuke nodded, now longing for his quiet bed and the simplicities of sleep. Being a social creature, it was exhausting.

Sasuke arrived home, and upon his arrival he halfheartedly changed into his pajamas, gave up, and slept in his pants. As he slept his dreams were of days long past.

End Maskless day 2 Chapter 3!

This took longer to finish then I thought. I credit the entire fight scene to **Lady MacFluff Yaoi Queen** because after five tries, I realized that I can't write fight scenes. AT ALL. And out of pity for you readers, she wrote the fight scene for me. Then lost it, then we forgot about it, then she rewrote it. So... Yeah, I suck. And I'm sorry.

That's part of the reason this is soo late. Another being that I've got like 20 stories going at once. That and I was trying to force inspiration in a story I haven't had inspiration in in like... a year. No lie. I feel soo bad for my SOAE: PR and my BTH...IMS readers. And most especially my loyal reviewers.

It all sounds soo lame but know I'm working on it. Chapter four is about halfway done and I have chapter five planned out. Still wandering what is going to happen in two chapters? I hope so! Give me lots of reviews please!

Even if I don't deserve them. I'm soo sorry I haven't been updating like I should! -Bows repeatedly-


	4. Day 3 Masked Words

**Masks  
By: Shozetsku  
Warnings/Authoress Notes:  
**Shonenai and possibly yaoi in later chapters, cursing, OOC-ness, NO flames please! You have been warned! Haters can click the back button! I DO NOT want to hear it!  
... This is a plot bunny that decided to do a jump kick to the back of my head after being shot out of a cannon. (and I have the scar to prove it.) Unfortunately this particular plot bunny used too much gun powder and the ending got burned off. So suggestions along the way are good! Gah, I need to update my other shit before I put up more shit really, but I have too many plot bunnies, it's like I'm running a bunny farm and they just keep multiplying.

-**IMPORTANT!** Even thought I cannot write fight scenes I tried a little in this chapter, if it's not totally lame confidence boosts are appreciated. If I completely suck and should never attempt to do such a thing again I need to know. (But please, let me down gently.) Note, my beta is on vacation so this is unbetaed, don't slay me! And I'm soo sorry Kyuu-chan!

**Chapter 4**: Day 3 - Masked words

Naruto pulled off his gray hoodie and tied it around his waist as he walked, their B rank mission was to escort some pleasant yet senile old scholar -who was apparently very important- back to his small village that was mostly just a huge library. The old man moved at an infuriatingly slow pace and was mostly deaf. All in all it felt to Naruto that he and his fellow teammates were taking a nice long walk to somewhere they didn't actually want to go. But he couldn't really complain, the weather was insanely nice and they chatted amongst themselves. The only reason the mission was even B rank was because of the frailty of the client.

Unless someone like the Akatsuki showed up, there wasn't anyone they could run into that would actually give them trouble. Naruto had his Kyuubi's chakra, and his rasengan; Sakura had her insane strength and genjutsu; Sasuke and Kakashi had chidori and their sharingan. Indeed, there was nothing to worry about.

Sakura was at least trying to get used to Naruto's new address for her, and Naruto and Sasuke seemed at perfect ease with each other. The three of them joked and chatted like regular teenagers should at their young age. Naruto was currently trying to defend his oiroke no jutsu, to little avail.

"But Naruto it's ridiculous, and degrading to women." Sakura pointed out, logic was on her side. And Sasuke knew she was right, though now that he allowed himself to show it he had voiced his opinion that the jutsu was a riot and dead useful for weeding out the closet perverts.

"It's not that the jutsu is degrading to women. It's a shock, I mean, how often do you see a beautiful naked woman? If you're a boy and have never peaked into the baths like ero sennin, then never. So all of a sudden you see one. You're stunned, you can't believe it's real, and by the time the average ninja has figured out it's not really real I'd have K.O.ed you." Naruto said simply.

Sakura shook her head. "Uzumaki Naruto, you are Crazy!"

"I know that," Naruto said happily, "But don't broadcast it."

"You know? Don't broadcast it?" Sasuke was fighting to get the words out before he lapsed into uncontrollable laughter.

Naruto nodded vehemently at him, "Yeah, 'cause ya know, I loose more victims -- I mean friends that way."

Sakura laughed and pushed Naruto gently in the arm, "You're so funny Naruto!"

But Sasuke looked at Naruto, no longer feeling the urge to laugh but dreading suspicion, "What did you mean by 'victims', Naruto?"

Naruto only laughed, "I meant to say 'friends'."

Sasuke wasn't deterred, "That doesn't change the fact that you said victims first Naruto."

"Doesn't it?" Naruto said giving him a sidelong glance and smirk, throwing his hands behind his head and lacing his fingers there.

"No. It doesn't." Sasuke said flatly.

"But I meant to say friends." Naruto said with a playful pouty face that mocked Sasuke just as much as the playful pouty voice Naruto used.

"Which is the truth?" Asked Sasuke, determined to get a straight answer from the blonde. But Naruto had no intention of making this easy on the brunette.

"Another good question Sasuke!" Naruto said beaming at him, "You're very perceptive! That makes this soo much fun. Do you know how boring life is when you don't have a challenge on your hands to keep your mind sharp?"

But Sasuke was having none of that. "Stop changing the subject! Which is the truth?" but before Naruto could respond Sakura cut in, she was worried they might start fighting during the mission.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun stop being so suspicious." She said waving a hand at him and patting his upper arm to calm him. "Naruto just made a mistake. People are allowed to make mistakes you know."

"Did I?" Naruto asked throwing a coy smile at her.

"Didn't you?" Sakura asked, suddenly alarmed.

"Hmm, I wonder." Naruto said tapping his index finger to his chin and staring up at the sky.

About here Sakura started to panic, "N-Naruto! Don't you even know? I mean, you're the one who said it!" she knew he was joking but it was about time to drop the whole joke and just admit he'd made a simple slip of the tongue. Unless, he hadn't made a slip of the tongue.

Naruto let out a groan like Shikamaru and clapped his hands to his ears, "Haruno, you're hurting my sensitive ears." Sakura shut her mouth immediately, lately everything about Naruto was sensitive, his nose, his eyes, his ears, Sakura took a moment to wonder just how much of his true self Naruto was hiding when Sasuke started shouting.

"Gah! I'm annoyed now! Go the hell away, both of you! Or better yet, I'm leaving!" Sasuke stalked off. He was annoyed, Naruto was being difficult, Sakura was screeching, and he hadn't slept well last night. Ever since he had gotten rid of his Naruto-proclaimed "Lid" he'd been having bad dreams of days long past. So what if he was a bit short fused that day? Lesser men would be insane; he had all the right in the world to be a little cranky.

"Oi, Sasuke! You can't leave, we're on a mission!" Naruto called after him laughing, but Sasuke just walked out ahead of them to a distance where he wouldn't be able to hear them if they talked normally.

"I don't care! You two are annoying me now!" Sasuke called back angrily, Naruto just laughed, it was funny to watch Sasuke PMS like a preteen girl.

"Geez, what crawled up his pants anyways?" Sakura asked Naruto quietly, watching the small Uchiha symbol on Sasuke's back in front of them.

If anything Naruto laughed harder and louder then ever, "Nothing. That's his problem." Sakura joined him in his little joke and their raucous laughter grew to such a level that the old Scholar turned to Kakashi, who was standing next to him and say in a wheezy voice, "Eh? What's that sonny?"

They laughed until their sides hurt, until it was painful to smile, until Sasuke had half a mind to come running back to them and strangle them both, because he knew they were laughing at his expense. The last of Sakura's giggles eventually died away and she wiped a tear of mirth from here eye, "That's my problem too come to that..." Naruto continued in an after thought.

Sakura stared at him. Kakashi who'd been re-reading Icha-Icha Violence for the past few hours, looked up from the book and stopped in his tracks for a moment.

"What?" Naruto asked in a slightly annoyed tone, Sakura was sure she had misheard, sure that Naruto meant something else. She prayed she wasn't wrong.

"Naruto... What do you mean by that?" she asked tentatively. Naruto looked at her.

"Hmm." was all he said after a long pause. Sakura waited, growing more anxious by the second.

But still Naruto gave no answer, Sakura was starting to get panicked now, the worst case scenarios playing ruthlessly in her head.

In the end after what seemed like a cruel eternity Naruto grinned down at Sakura, whom he was now quite taller then, and said softly, "Do you really want to find out, Haruno?"

"..." here Sakura paused, weighing her curiosity against her wellness of mind. She wanted to know, but she didn't want to know at the same time. Why had Naruto paused like that? Was he just teasing her?

"Well?" Naruto prompted.

Sakura shook her head, "Actually, no I don't want to find out. In fact, I can go my entire life without ever finding out and I'll die very happy." She choose her mental stability.

Naruto chuckled, "When we're done with this mission I might give you a hint." he whispered in her ear.

But Sakura didn't understand. "A hint about what?"

Naruto looked at her, then he straightened up, "About what's going to happen tomorrow." he said glancing at Sasuke's back.

Sakura frowned, "What's going to happen tomorrow?" Naruto only laughed, though not unkindly.

"So you do want me to give you a hint! Alright, but only after the end of the mission. It's such a nice day today, don't you just love it?" Naruto turned away from her, turning his face to the sky and closing his eyes, he let the sun warm his face and listened to the breeze as it blew gently past.

Sakura was about to argue with Naruto, but at the eased look on his face as they walked she thought twice. She looked to the side of the path they were walking along and noticed many multicolored wild flowers, many of which she knew the names of from her days at the academy. She inhaled deeply, reveling in their sweet scent, she heard the chirp of many birds, and she admired the blue of the sky.

Naruto took a deep breath, then stopped, "Yo! Haruno! Wanna see how angry we can make Sasuke before he tries to kill me again?"

Before Sakura could answer Naruto threw a kunai knife, round end first straight for Sasuke's head. Sakura could only see the blur of Sasuke's arm as he deflected the Kunai and three shuriken, she could tell it was three because she counted the clanks of metal on metal.

"And so begins a reasonably obvious ambush, ne Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said jumping to the Scholar's side to cover Kakashi's blind spot. Kakashi let loose a small laugh, the enemy nin jumped out from the bushes, Naruto counted quickly with his eyes, "I count, fourteen, what's say we split them, ne sensei?"

Kakashi nodded, "Sounds good to me, Sakura, we're fine here, go stop Sasuke from killing the ones up front. Then you can have the ones in the back. If there are any."

Sakura nodded grinning, "Right." everyone could tell that these ninja were small fry, easily dealt with, Sakura could sense all of their chakra signatures, there wasn't anything special in the entire group. She dashed to Sasuke's side, "What are you doing up here?"

Sakura laughed, "After how many years of dealing with Naruto's Kage Bushin you still don't realize how annoying being outnumbered is? Besides, these won't disappear after one hit." Sakura said with a laugh, while simultaneously punching the poor soul that had come at her in the jaw with a solid uppercut. He soared over the heads of his teammates and landed a few feet away, he wasn't getting back up again.

Sasuke was using Naruto's kunai to fend off the, in his opinion, slow attacks made on him. He almost laughed out loud, he didn't even need his sharingan for weaklings like this. Every idiot that came at him fell victim to either his or Sakura's hands, fists, elbows, knees, or feet. Sakura didn't even need to tell Sasuke not to kill them, they weren't enough of a threat that it was needed.

Too soon for Sasuke's liking, the only enemies left were on the ground groaning or running away. Sakura snickered, "That was fun, just like training at the academy, only these dummies try to attack back."

Sasuke laughed too, "They were attacking?" the closest man to Sakura tried feebly to inch away from her.

"Yo!" Kakashi said walking up to them, "Any casualties?" Sasuke shook his head, "I think my shirt got wrinkled." he said snidely. Sakura pulled out a mirror, "One casualty, I got my hair mussed."

Naruto laughed, coming up behind Kakashi, helping the old scholar step over the fallen bodies, occasionally stepping on one or two and cries of, "OWWW!" or "Get off me!" following.

"That was wonderful Sonny. Simply amazing, it almost looked as though you weren't even trying." the scholar was saying to Naruto, "Ojii-san, we weren't trying."

"How can you be frying? It's lovely weather outside, just feel that breeze."

"Are you senile, old man?" Naruto said, abandoning decorum and looking worriedly at the frail man beside him.

"What's that? You'll help me any way you can? We'll that's mighty kind of you Sonny and I thank you, if it's not too much trouble, my old bones ache from all this walking. I'm not as young as I used to be, would it be too much trouble for you to carry an old man for a time?" the scholar replied patting Naruto's arm appreciatively.

Sasuke burst out laughing, Sakura snorted in a very unladylike fashion. Kakashi said softly, "Do it Naruto."

Naruto heaved a sigh, "What kind of Hokage would I be if I didn't help those who can't help themselves?" he picked up the old man with ease and placed him gently on his back. "And I'm still faster then the two of you, even with the old man on my back."

"Care to back up your motor-mouth Uzumaki?" Sasuke said the competitiveness practically oozing from his voice.

"No races with clients on piggy back." Kakashi said, not even looking up from his book.

They all had a small laugh from that. The rest of the journey to the Scholar's home was uneventful. After a brief rest there to have some food they headed back to Konoha, running leisurely through the trees to get back to Konoha before nightfall. They arrived before sunset, the four of them taking most of the way home in a race to the Hokage's office. Kakashi won, but in Naruto's and Sakura's opinion, he cheated. He'd used substitution jutsu at he last second with the sake bottle on Tsunade's desk.

"Naruto, the mission's over and I'm dying to know. What's going to happen tomorrow? Now you've got me curious."

Naruto turned to look at Sakura, he was half hoping she might've forgotten about that. On the one hand Sasuke was standing right there and he could have some real fun with that. On the other he didn't want to say anything that would get him in trouble with Tsunade, who was glaring at him.

He'd already known what hint he was going to give her, and the whole thing was annoying to begin with, so Naruto decided he dared to incur Tsunade's wrath.

"Tomorrow, Gaara is coming to visit."

**End Maskless Day 3!**

Not as soon as I would have liked, but not unspeakably late either. Eh, at least I updated... Sorry for the shortness.

And now! After making you wait for two chapters! A hint! Hehehe, sorry **Lady Macfluff** but it's the same hint I gave you. Anyways, if you have any theories please voice(type) them! The one who get's it right will get the chapter dedicated to them!

Again, profound apologies to my beta Kyuu-chan. But she's on vacation and I've been struck with an inspirational lightening bolt.

Eureka!!!

The review button needs some luvin' too you know!


	5. Day 4 – Masks Of Darkness

**Mask  
By: Shozetsku  
Warnings/Authoress Notes:**

-Shonenai and possibly yaoi, cursing, OOC-ness, NO flames please! You have been warned! Haters can click the back button! I DO NOT want to hear it!

_**KYUUXSHUKAKU!!! Implied GaaXNaru**_

-... This is a plot bunny that decided to do a jump kick to the back of my head after being shot out of a cannon. (and I have the scar to prove it.) Unfortunately this particular plot bunny used too much gun powder and the ending got burned off. So suggestions along the way are good!

Chapter 5: Day 4 – Masks Of Darkness

It was morning, and Sakura stood in Tsunade's office, a place she was very familiar with, second only to Shizune. She stood there, staring at her master and prayed she was in a good mood. After all one does not often ask to have paid time off for training and on top of that asking a highly skilled ninja that could otherwise be a very useful asset on missions to take the time to train you. But Sakura had seen Naruto's and Sasuke's strength, and she knew already how it felt to be the weak link in the team. She had promised herself never again, and she was going to keep that promise.

"Are you saying that everything I taught you is no good?" Sakura bristled at the venom in her master's statement, it seemed she was not lucky enough to catch her in a good mood.

"Of course not Shishiou," Sakura replied immediately, insulted at the accusation that she didn't appreciate the time that Tsunade had taken in training her. "Your training is invaluable to me, but I need to become faster to increase my percentage of making contact with a target. And Lee would be a great teacher."

"And why do you not ask if Gai would train you? It's his style that he taught Lee and that is what you'll be learning." Tsunade asked with her head resting in one hand. But Sakura was ready for this question, "Because Lee is a bit more aware of the physical limits of others and he is a good friend, besides if I were to be trained by Gai you would lose the one who made and mastered that style. I'm not looking to become a taijutsu specialist, I'm just looking for a way to increase my speed."

"It'll take a lot of time. Konoha can't have you two out of commission for that long." Tsunade said offhandedly while writing on a scroll, but Sakura knew what that meant, it meant that she already had decided that Sakura could have speed training from Lee. "It doesn't have to be non-stop, it might actually be better if I have missions in between to show my progress in a battle situation."

"Go get your training." Tsunade said smiling kindly handing the scroll to Sakura, "And give this to Lee, it's his new mission details."

Sakura nodded and bowed herself out of the room. But as she opened the door someone walked past her, "Thanks, Sakura." One of the people said, Sakura stared at them, Naruto had said it yesterday, but Sakura didn't take him all that seriously, but there they were: Kankuro, Temari and Gaara, the Kazekage. "Y-your welcome Temari-san."

"Sakura," Tsunade called, stopping Sakura in the hallway she turned to see Tsunade with a very severe look on her face, "If you see Naruto have him report to my office."

"No need." Naruto said as he swung casually into the room via the open window in Tsunade's office. "I'm already here."

"Hn." Tsunade scowled but said nothing. Sakura, scroll in hand and with the distinct feeling that she should make herself scarce, quickly left to find Lee. It was only after she was well gone that the five occupants of the Hokage's office began their conversation.

"Don't you dare start picking up your perverted sensei's idiotic tendencies. Use the _door_ to my office in future." Tsunade said scolding Naruto agitatedly. "Geez Baa-chan, is your menopause acting up again or what? You gotta remember to take your pill." Naruto said boldly, dodging the rather sharp pen that was thrown at him with a smirk that only further agitated Tsunade.

Gaara stared at Naruto's appearance; it was one he knew well. But never before had Naruto shown it in public. "Naruto." Gaara said, inclining his head to his fellow Jinchuuriki. Naruto nodded in turn, "Gaara."

A small staring contest ensued, which Naruto lost, as always, Naruto couldn't really help it if he always cracked up laughing. Tsunade cleared her throat, "As always Naruto I warn you to exercise caution at all times. Your outward mission will be escorting the Kazekage, but the other objective I leave to the two of you."

Naruto nodded to her, he knew what came next, they all did; it was easier to just let her say it. "But I am going to tell you one more time that I don't approve of this. It's only because Suna is an ally and Gaara is the Kazekage that I've been entertaining this for so long. And until you stop I'm going to beg you Naruto, please, rethink what you're doing."

Naruto nodded again; and took his place beside Gaara as they all bowed and exited her office. In the hallway of the Hokage tower Temari spoke up, "Naruto, your hair looks so long. How did it grow so fast?" Naruto looked at Gaara, who threw a sidelong glance back.

"I've been growing my hair out for several months now Temari-chan, Gaara was actually the one who suggested I let it grow." Naruto said with a toothy grin as he touched the ponytail that sat on the base of his neck.

Gaara studied Naruto's appearance again. He felt cheated, as though something that was exclusively for him was taken away. For some reason he had felt special that he had been the only one that ever saw Naruto without his henge. He shook the feeling, it was childish and eventually led down a road he'd rather not tread.

Gaara turned to face Naruto more fully as he walked, "What made you drop your henge?" Gaara was genuinely curious and a bit upset, though repressing it, and Naruto could tell.

"What else goes on in Konoha? Betting! Or you might call it a test or a challenge." Naruto looked up in relatively mild consideration. He had gotten very close to the Sand siblings over the years, especially during his three years away from Konoha, his casual and familiar air around the was just that, familiar. Temari considered him carefully, he looked much more mature then the Naruto she was use to seeing.

"Your hokage has that much influence?" Kankuro asked, his eyebrows disappearing beneath the hat he constantly wore.

"Nah, Sasuke called me on acting too much like an idiot to be a ninja and landed himself ankle deep in a bet, test, challenge thing. ... Humm, I really don't know what word I'd use for this damnit!"

"What is going on that you're abandoning your henge in public?" Gaara asked again, the agitation a bit more notable in his voice, "If you explain maybe we can come up with a more appropriate word."

Naruto explained about Sasuke's epiphany and the challenge he'd issued and how Naruto had turned the tables on the raven and caught him with his pants down. Kankuro had a good snicker at the wording Naruto chose but beyond that no one interrupted him.

"A Dare." Gaara said rolling his eyes at the simplistic reason Naruto had chosen to come out of hiding for. "So Sasuke thinks that he can get the better of you with such a simple thing as a dare? He's a fool, he doesn't know you at all. So, how did Sakura take it?"

"Haruno? She flinches every time I address her by her last name, she doesn't know what to do with herself and Sasuke's become quite the drama queen since he let pretences fall. I swear he's so funny to pick on." Naruto gave a fanged grin to Gaara whose interest was captured, "A drama queen?" Naruto nodded vigorously, "I have to see that."

They walked down the street, laughing, Naruto being loud and boisterous and Gaara merely chuckling to himself.

Temari and Kankuro stopped in their tracks, dumbfounded. "Did someone switch our brother with an imposter when we weren't looking?" Temari asked quietly, Kankuro shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."

Naruto and Gaara walked ahead, not bothering to stop. Naruto looked over his shoulder with a half grin plastered on his face, it was always like that with Gaara, he couldn't stop smileing. "Should we have let them in on it? They already know part of it anyways." Gaara gave him a look, but not just any look, Gaara gave Naruto the look, the look of "I'm still that psycho that loved to kill people deep down and you're about to become my next victim." Naruto glared at Gaara and pulled him out of the crowded street and with his ninja speed they landed behind a building in utter silence.

"You're looking at me like that. You swore you would never give me that look Gaara." Naruto said cupping the redhead's face with his always pleasantly warm hands. Gaara blinked at him and most of his anger dissipated, though Naruto could still see some of it lingering in his eyes.

"What look?" Gaara asked feebly, looking away from Naruto's piercing eyes.

Naruto sighed, he rested his forehead on Gaara's shoulder, "We left this too long, didn't we? I can practically hear it in your voice, forget your smell." Naruto spoke to Gaara's shirt, unable to lift his head from it's resting place in a wave of sudden guilt.

"We knew. We knew that this was a possible outcome. You still did it though, for three years you've helped save me from me. And we can't change our responsibilities, this was the earliest we could arrange a meeting. If anyone got suspicious…" Gaara trailed off, it was one of Naruto's pet peeves, to worry about what could have been when it was already in the past. No one was suspicious of them, they were careful, even his own two siblings didn't know the full truth of the matter.

"Only a Jinchuuriki could ever understand our needs, I'm glad we found each other before it was too late. Now no one else has to get hurt in this." Naruto said lifting his head, and finally Gaara was able to look into his eyes again, eyes that had saved him so many times. Gaara felt that familiar sensation welling up in his stomach, he could smell it in his own scent and knew that Naruto could smell it too.

"This is not a good place. Or a good time. Tonight, meet me at the usual place, and under the light of the full moon we'll sate our demonic urges for a little while longer. We won't let anyone else get hurt in this, not again."

Gaara nodded, and he cast around for something to get that serious look off of Naruto's face, "You said Sasuke is fun to tease?" Naruto grinned again, and the little ache that had hung in Gaara's fragile heart melted.

Naruto didn't need long to find Sasuke, his scent was easy to track, and they found him soon enough, "Yo! Sasu-chan!"

"What the hell?! Who are you calling Sasu-chan, you bastard? What is it with you and mood swings? Do you switch personalities from day to day or something?!" Sasuke was ready to pummel Naruto. Gaara covered his laughter behind his hand as he flushed with silent laughter. Sasuke stared at him, Naruto had not been lying, Gaara really did come to Konoha.

Now that Sasuke thought about it, while Naruto was cryptic and secretive, he had never lied to him. It made him feel good for some reason, like even though Naruto had changed so much, he was still Naruto.

Naruto was talking to him, but Sasuke couldn't hear, Gaara was looking at him now that he had removed the hand from his face. No. Gaara was not looking at him, he was glaring at him. Like he wanted the Uchiha dead.

And then the look was gone, it was strange, and for some reason Sasuke still could not hear what Naruto was saying.

"Sure, my business with the Hokage doesn't start till tomorrow, I'd love to go to the onsen after dinner."

Unlike when he and Naruto spent the evening in the onsen, Sasuke found that this time it was a slightly terse affair. Gaara was guarded, falsely polite, and seemed somehow to be holding something back. There was something in his voice and eyes when he looked at Naruto, a kind of need, like when he had first met the redhead with a lust for killing to keep him relatively sane.

Naruto, was either oblivious or ignoring it. Naruto was downright cheerful, if impatient. Indeed it was like the two of them were waiting for something. Sasuke decided to leave it alone but to confront Naruto about it later.

Gaara and Naruto stole glances and basically acted like they were in on some private joke. It pissed Sasuke off. Sasuke got out after a while, with the excuse that he was tired and wanted to go home. Naruto looked as though he wanted to follow but Gaara stopped him with a different kind of look on his face.

"I don't think I can stand forcing back Shukaku." He said softly. Naruto understood, "Let's get out of here."

Sasuke tried to sneak out the back door because he really didn't want to deal with other people. He took his time in the locker room trying to force himself to figure out what he was feeling and not to fall back behind his mask. He was hardly aware of anything around him so he didn't see Naruto and Gaara slip out of the back door before him. But when he was outside he heard them, he heard the trashcan fall and it snapped him out of his furious reverie.

Naruto and Gaara were biting each other fiercely, they were ripping each other's clothing, there were snarls, and growls, and clawing, and kissing. Kissing; they truly looked like they were trying to eat each other's face. They're expressions were animalistic, they're movements harsh. There was drawn blood and pulled hair.

Naruto's eyes opened enough that Sasuke saw, he saw the blood red eyes with cat like slits. He looked harder at Gaara's eyes, there was only black as far as he could see. But with the help of his sharingan he saw it, the golden irises of the demon Shukaku. Now that he looked he saw that they're nails were sharpened, that they bore fangs and Naruto's whisker markings had grown and darkened.

But it didn't compute. It just didn't. Naruto was having a furious make out session with Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure. What were they doing together?

And why? Why was Sasuke ready to kill Gaara? Why did it feel that now that his heart had been taken out of storage it was being shattered all over again?

Why did he care so much?

**End Maskless Day 4!**

Yes, I meant this to happen the entire time.

No, this wasn't just a last minute thing I randomly threw in here.

Yes, you can flame me if you want.

No, I won't change it.

Yes, I'm just getting started.

No, this isn't going to be a GaaNaru.

Yes, this is a SasuNaru fic.

And YES, I want reviews.

Who saw that comeing? If you really, really did see that coming before this chapter came up then tell me and you get the next chapter dedicated to you!


	6. Day 5 – Reaching for the Mask Again

**Mask  
By: Shozetsku  
Warnings/Authoress Notes:**

-Shonenai and possibly yaoi, cursing, OOC-ness, NO flames please! You have been warned! Haters can click the back button! I DO NOT want to hear it!

-that was kind of a mean ending wasn't it? Sorry about that. Oh and the wait… sorry about that too.

Don't kill me? If you kill me you won't find out the ending.

-

Chapter 6: Day 5 – Reaching for the Mask Again

It did not compute.

It did not compute.

It wasn't happening.

It wasn't real.

It couldn't be.

Why? Why did it hurt?

His heart was breaking, it was almost worth throwing away his Uchiha pride and hiding back behind his mask, forcing his emotions back under the lid to escape the pain. But he was too dumbfounded to do even that.

Instead he stood there, watching, frozen with grief, betrayal, sadness and... Longing? He watched as their hands roamed each other's bodies, there was an air of learned routine about the frenzied movements. And that meant one thing, that they had been doing this for a while now, it wasn't just some spur of the moment thing. It twisted in the wound that had already been made, making it worse, hurting, searing, bleeding, he felt as if he could cry tears of blood.

Naruto was biting Gaara's neck enough to draw blood; he lapped greedily at the liquid that presented itself there. Gaara's eyes opened at the sensation and caught sight of Sasuke, standing there.

"Oh, look who it is Kyuubi." Gaara sneered, pushing Naruto off of him slightly; Naruto locked his red eyes on Sasuke as well and grinned evilly, "The Uchiha brat. Who'd have thought? What shall we do about this, Shukaku?"

"Part of the arrangement is that it stays of the utmost secret. But how do you make the last of the Uchiha's disappear without someone noticing?"

"Why make him disappear? Leave the body to be found. You of course would be blameless, you're vessel is the kazekage and mine is his self proclaimed dearest friend."

It was barely registering with Sasuke that they were plotting his death.

Naruto and Gaara both stumbled and started groaning like they had headaches, clutching their heads. "B-Back... Off. Damn fox." Naruto gritted through his teeth. Naruto looked up at Sasuke, one eye red, one eye blue, both with cat silts for pupils. He blinked, they were both red, he blinked again, and they were blue. After about a minute or two both Naruto and Gaara were back to normal, with a certain amount of distance between them.

Sasuke just stood there and watched. He wasn't going to go anywhere; he wanted a mother fucking explanation. Gaara was the first to recover himself enough to try to explain. "Come with us, this isn't to be discussed in public."

Sasuke stood rooted to the spot, "You two are in not state to be going anywhere, your clothes are ripped, and you're both bleeding."

The Jinchuuriki looked down at each other, "Well, I'll be damned, they must not have gotten very far, we're still wearing pants." Naruto said, mostly to himself.

"But that's no good, they haven't satisfied their thirsts. I don't want to end up like this twice so soon. It's always so uncomfortable." Gaara said, Sasuke noted that they seemed to be very used to waking up all over each other; the thought pissed him off. But it didn't seem to really be them that did it, and that quelled a small part of that anger.

"Henges, then? It's up to you Kazekage-sama." Naruto said, turning to Gaara with a slight teasing note in his voice.

"Please, lets. The LAST thing we need is Tsunade-dono finding out that we got caught." Gaara said, ignoring the title for the moment.

Once they dawned their henges they made their quick way to Sasuke's house, because though he was no longer staying at the Uchiha Estate, his, had the biggest kitchen of the three of them.

Once there Sasuke found his medical kit and brought it to them only to find that all they needed was an old rag to wipe away the blood and a new change of clothes. He glared at the two boys in front of him when he was satisfied that there was no way they could get blood on his furniture. "OK, talk. And I am not in the mood for your infuriating 'beat around the bush, I'm not going to answer your questions' attitude Naruto."

Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair and leaning heavily on the kitchen table, "This is soo against the rules and more awkward then I can begin to tell."

"WHAT the FUCK did I JUST say you ASSHOLE?" Sasuke asked, emphasizing certain words, but managing, with great restraint, not to start shouting and give his nosey neighbors a reason to eavesdrop. He didn't bother to stop himself from slamming his hands on the kitchen table, however.

"I am going to answer your question, Sasuke, but for the record this is one, not easy to talk about, and two, something we're not supposed to talk about. Quite frankly no one's supposed to know."

"Know what?! That the Kazekage is having a secret, gay relationship with Konoha's Village Idiot?"

Gaara growled; he didn't like Sasuke's tone or his choice of words. "No. no one's supposed to know that our seals are weakening to the point that our demons' are influencing our bodies beyond our ability to suppress them." He said bitingly from his position against the counter, and he fought the urge to crush the toaster next to him with his bare hands.

Naruto nodded, "They're out for some bloodshed, and while they're at it they haven't bred in over a decade, so that's also an issue." Naruto paused, looked down at his hands for a moment then looked into Sasuke's eyes. "No one but a Jinchuuriki can understand something like this. If a Jinchuuriki takes out his demonic needs on another Jinchuuriki who has the same needs then their demon is satisfied for the time being and no one else need be hurt. Besides we heal so fast it's like the wounds never happened in the first place."

"So, you're not really…" Sasuke trailed off. He stared Naruto down but it was Gaara who answered, "We are not like that. Anything that you might see that goes on between us isn't really us, it's Skukaku and Kyuubi, and even then, they're not interested in each other like that. They've said as much."

"There's nothing between us Sasuke. My heart belongs to another. Not Gaara." Gaara winced ever so slightly; the words hurt. Though it was true they weren't like that, it was also true that Naruto was the first one to melt his heart and make him feel human again. Over time he became Gaara's first crush, so to speak. Maybe somewhere inside him he did love Naruto, but he knew as well as Naruto did, that this was the only relationship they were going to have.

It hurt.

"You realize that this is the WEIRDEST thing that you've revealed to me about yourself since we started this whole bet, thing." Sasuke said, stressing the word WEIRDEST so much that his voice sounded strained.

"Geez! No one knows what to call this stupid bet thing!" Naruto said, throwing his arms up in the air. Gaara smiled lightly, it was such a Naruto thing to do, mask or no mask.

"So now what?" Sasuke asked. And to that neither boy had an answer, Naruto's forehead hit the kitchen tabletop hard, he drew his arms over himself, and let out a frustrated groan. Gaara wanted to take similar action, it was awkward to let their demon's take over, it was like blacking out only to wake up exhausted, in pain, and naked either underneath or on top of Naruto. Several times the demons didn't even do them the courtesy of the seme removing himself from the uke. Gaara shut his eyes at the awkward memories, and their demon's hadn't even sated their needs yet. The redhead felt a migraine coming on.

Gaara looked up at Sasuke, "Well we can start with some migraine medication, I'm developing a killer headache trying to figure this out."

Naruto fished his bottle out of his pocket and threw them over his shoulder at Gaara without looking."I'm going to need more then the Kyuubi to save when Tsunade finds out we got caught." Naruto muttered into the table. "I'm gonna end up a puddle of Naruto for sure."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Why would you tell her?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke, that infuriating all knowing smile back on his face, "Sasuke, it's not in me to keep things from Tsuande, I'm not wired that way. I can't lie to a hokage, I never lied to old man Sarutobi, I'm not gonna lie to Tsunade."

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, "Wait, just Tsunade? What happened to Tsunade-obaasan?" but before the words were finished coming out of his mouth, he knew. "Another part of your mask?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

"A PAINFUL part!" Naruto agreed as he held up a hand for the bottle that Gaara tossed back at him, again, not looking. Naruto was much more like the ninja his various sensei's had tried to help him become now. It was true that throwing and catching a bottle was something that Sasuke could have done as a genin, or even an academy student, but to watch Naruto do it was odd. He wondered if Naruto carried that bottle around with him everywhere.

Naruto studied Sasuke, who'd been staring, "I never leave home without this little baby." He said, shaking the bottle before pocketing it. "I'm going to need a new one soon or I'll run out." He said, turning to Gaara who was still leaning against the counter next to the toaster. There was something comical in that, Naruto mused, Gaara and a toaster… he wasn't sure what was so funny about it, but something made him want to chuckle to a joke that no one else would get.

Gaara nodded, "I'll have some sent from Suna as soon as possible." Naruto nodded.

"The abandoned Uchiha Estate." Sasuke blurted out, causing both jinchuuriki to look at him. "What about it, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, confused, but interested.

"The key word is abandoned, and it was the scene of a bloodbath." Gaara said catching on, "It'd be a good place to let them loose with minimal damage to people's property or risk of getting caught. And the setting might please them."

Sasuke didn't bother to hide the wince at the blunt stab that Gaara's words sent right into his heart. This wasn't something he was suggesting lightly, but part of the reason he was suggesting it was so all his bad memories would be in one place and that'd make it easier to shut away.

"I don't like you going in there alone. I'll be sitting on the wall of the estate just in case. There are some precious things in there and if they get near my house I can't promise I won't try to kill them, you." Sasuke said flatly.

Gaara pushed off the counter and sent him an authoritarian glare that he must have developed after becoming Kazekage. "You don't have the right to order us around." He said flatly, his voice telling volumes of how the subject was closed. But Sasuke was prideful himself and didn't back down.

"It's my property, my suggestion, and like it or not I'm privy to your little secret, wouldn't you rather know where I am?"

Naruto pushed off the table and leaned back in the chair, "Hoo, he's got you there Gaara."

Gaara glared at Sasuke, "And how will you sitting on the estate wall NOT attract unwanted attention? We don't want others involved."

"I'll buy a bouquet of flowers and sit on the wall looking broody, people will give this place a WIDE birth." Sasuke said without hesitation.

Naruto whistled, "Again, point for Sasu-chan."

On instinct, out of temper, and without thought, Sasuke threw a kunai at the side of Naruto's face, causing a breeze, ruffling the boy's hair, and barely nicking the blonde's ear. Sasuke had not aimed for Naruto, and Naruto had known that, or he would have dodged, but he'd meant to make a point. The point was clear; Sasuke had no more patience for Naruto's antics.

There was a long moment of silence during which the tiny cut, to which Naruto had acted like he hadn't even felt it, healed. Naruto shot a look at Gaara, and for another long silence they debated with their eyes. Naruto raised an eyebrow after a while and Gaara shut his eyes, even to Sasuke, who had NO CLUE what was going on, knew that Gaara had lost the argument.

"We'll take you up on your offer Sasuke." Naruto said finally, his voice noticeably absent the joking attitude he'd up until recently had.

"Only because we have no other choice." Gaara cut across him. Sasuke nodded, and went to the nearest florist's praying Ino wasn't on shift.

The giggling blonde girl wasn't, it was the much more centered mother whom he bought the roses from. He'd put on the slightly depressed broody look that said volumes and yet told her not to ask. Naruto and Gaara made their merry but quiet way to the Uchiha Estate, there would be nothing weird about Gaara walking with his Konoha escort, even so late at night. When they were doubly sure that no one was paying them any mind, they slipped inside the complex and waited for Sasuke to appear on the wall so they could let loose their demons.

"Do you think he'll watch?" Gaara asked with a certain amount of discomfort, "That'd be weird."

"The first time was against his will," Naruto reminded Gaara, "I doubt he'll watch. He's not sick or interested in either of us like that. Or if he is he's either denser then my mask or really good at hiding it; which he's not supposed to be doing in the first place because of the bet thing."

"That stupid thing needs to be named properly, it's so ridiculous to say 'bet thing'." Gaara said with a bit of annoyance, not at Naruto, but at the term.

Sasuke appeared on the wall, the simple bouquet in one hand, the other wrapping his knees to his chest, even from a distance it didn't seem like Sasuke had any intention of watching them, he looked like he as going to brood while looking at the Uchiha Estate, which he more or less was.

Naruto and Gaara felt the push from within themselves and let the demons take over. Eyes turned from blue and green to red and gold as the demons surveyed their environment.

"Well. This is the most considerate place they've ever picked. The ground is still rank with the blood that flowed like a river within these walls." Shukaku said with a grin that split Gaara's face manically.

"And that blood is of the damned Uchiha clan. It is a nice setting." Kyuubi agreed. "They've wasted most of the night and if we're caught out by daybreak there'll be hell to pay. Let's get started then."

"I had the same thoughts." Shukaku said and they set upon each other like rabid animals. Again they were ripping into one another, feeling the pain of being cut themselves, biting and being bitten, kissing and humping, kneading and groping, thrusting and pulling. The frantic undulating of their bodies mixing with ever more blood and cum was a truly macabre sight to behold, but Sasuke did. It was sick, inhuman, it was his friend and a person he trusted, they were having rough, bloody sex, and if the sight of it with his sharingan wasn't enough, the sounds made it so the tears falling down Sasuke's face were not faked. Of course he'd cast a simple silence jutsu over the area and himself, but he could hear them within the jutsu.

The one late night passerby that did see him wondered if he even realized he was crying. He just sat there, shoulders set, completely still save to breathe and blink and yet the tiny rivlets cascaded down his cheeks relentlessly, catching the light of the nearest streetlamp. That lone person also wondered why the boy's sharingan was blazing, if only for a moment, before remembering what was on the other side of that wall; that reaction was probably inevitable, given what he'd witnessed there. They walked on, unnoticed, or ignored, to go about their daily life.

It was more painful then he imagined it could be, and though he watched and watched he could not figure out why it hurt him. He barely registered where he was anymore, he concentrated on the shadows and the wild glimpses of the two below, on the sounds and the smell of blood and cum. It wrenched his stomach, and he couldn't figure out just what part of it was so painful or why. He was torturing himself, he knew, but it was his nature.

It was his nature to take painful things and relish in them, to turn them over and other in his mind until they made him crazy. _Even Naruto had said that_, Sasuke thought. And the pang in his heart at the thought triggered images of a pair of merciless red eyes, the terrible hybrid of red and blue, the blonde idiot, the shaggy haired real Naruto. Of their fights and their moment's of friendship. And the pangs got more frequent, more painful. He tried to look away but only saw the place that had been haunting his dreams again, and in his mind he saw it bathed in blood again.

The memories of his family, both brutal and happy stung his beaten, worn, dying heart. It was going to kill him, or break him; he knew that he'd known it for years. Why else would he have put the lid on his heart in the first place? Why else would this pain that almost literally racked his whole body feel a bit familiar? It was because he'd felt this before, and had sealed his heart away so it could sleep and in time heal. Only to take it out again before the healing was even nearly done.

Dawn was coming; it couldn't be anymore then an hour away. But he didn't want to face it. He buried his eyes in his arms and let the roses fall to the ground.

--

When Gaara and Naruto came too it was past dawn; they were naked in a drying puddle of they're own various bodily fluids and sore to all hell. Their clothes, or rather, Sasuke loaned clothes were ruined, barely tatters were left. Gaara had that foul taste in his mouth that told him that Shukaku had chosen to put things in his mouth that shouldn't be there. Naruto's sensitive nose caught the scent of recent sex and blood and it made him want to gag. All in all it was nothing out of the ordinary.

They henge'd clothes and tried to get their bearings. They'd moved from the spot they'd started from, leaving an indecent bloody trail down two streets and up another. Naruto looked up at the spot Sasuke had been that night, not expecting him to still be there.

But he was. In roughly the same position no less. _Had he stayed the entire night?_ Naruto wondered, _or has he simply fallen asleep?_ Naruto wasn't sure he liked either option. He went to Sasuke and made to shake him but Sasuke unfolded himself from the crouched position on the wall, he stood to face Naruto and simply said, "I'm tired." before leaving without another word.

Sasuke went home and slept the night off. He woke before mid-day and cleaned his home top to bottom just to give himself something to do. He didn't bother to call in sick it'd be a lie. Or maybe it wouldn't be a lie, but he didn't feel like dealing with lots of people that day, one in particular.

His strategy for staying away from people and that person in general failed, because Naruto was the one to show up at his door asking why he never showed up all day through the door. Sasuke hadn't answered the door, but Naruto didn't let that stop him. He made a clone on one side of the door and then substituted himself for it, guessing the door to be rigged with traps.

It was. And Sasuke cursed that it wasn't the old Naruto that was supposed to act like enough of a fool to set them off on purpose. Naruto stared at Sasuke who stared back.

Naruto sighed, "Sasuke what's going on?"

Sasuke sighed, "I'm done." He said quietly.

Naruto blinked, "Sorry?"

Sasuke's face formed his old smirk, "I said I'm done playing this stupid little game, dobe."

Naruto couldn't say anything. Sasuke just folded his hands and sneered, "Tongue tied?" he asked, "That's pretty hard to do to this Naruto. But none of that really matters now, in two days this game will be over or you can stop playing around right now. Personally? I don't have time for it, and I don't want to talk to you, so kindly get your ass out of here."

Sasuke undid the traps and held the door open for Naruto, but he didn't move. "It seems like neither Naruto can take a hint. I said get the fuck out."

Naruto frowned as he walked back towards the door, "I always knew you to be better then this, stronger then this; did I even know you at all?"

Sasuke, frustrated already with the blonde, repeated the word with venom, "_Out_."

"I liked you Sasuke. I really, really did." Naruto admitted, "I liked you because you were strong, because you were weak in a good way, and because you were dedicated. Even after you kick me out today, I'm still going to like you." Naruto was just on the other side of the threshold when Sasuke slammed the door behind him. He didn't care if the door hit the boy in the ass. He made himself not care.

End of the maskless

Yeah, yeah, I left you for so long on such an uber cliffhanger.  
Yeah, yeah I'm mean and cruel to do it again.Yeah, yeah I know you are going to threaten me to not leave it for so long again.  
Yeah, yeah you want me to update soon.  
Yeah, yeah you liked the chapter I KNOW that. But tell me why! If I see "five word or less reviews" again I'm just packing my fics and abandoning entirely without bothering to finish this.

As it is when I finish these bloody fics I'm leaving them up and leaving the site anyways. No if's and's or but's and please don't ask why. I don't feel like explaining it 50 times.

Review please. After reading the authoress notes.


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